- JBP
- Feb 16, 2017
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You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.
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Awww, suspended sentence after 10 days jail? What kind of beauty is that? And even after the whole court case the guy isn't even remorseful.
He is continuing to dig up and making it worse buddy. This is good.
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May 14, 2018 06:54
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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#
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May 29, 2024 09:42
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- JBP
- Feb 16, 2017
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You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.
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Has anyone noticed that Pauline Hanson has had the constitution for the One Nation Party changed so it has her as President for Life of the party?
I'm not a member, so you tell me
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May 14, 2018 07:04
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- Les Affaires
- Nov 15, 2004
-
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how democratic
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May 14, 2018 07:07
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- Les Affaires
- Nov 15, 2004
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its like they looked at Xi in china doing the same thing and thought "hmm what a good idea"
can't wait until her doctrine is enshrined in there too
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May 14, 2018 07:08
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- hooman
- Oct 11, 2007
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This guy seems legit.
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Fun Shoe
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Speaking of har har har of loving course
Guardian Au posted:
Gas boom fuels Australia's third straight year of rising emissions
LNG was major contributor to 1.5% rise in year to December 2017, government data shows
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.
The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017.
The expansion in LNG exports and production is identified as the major contributor to the increase, but the data shows a jump in emissions across all sectors – including waste, agriculture and transport – except for electricity, the one area that recorded a decrease in emissions.
In particular, the department’s data shows a 10.5% increase in fugitive emissions from the production, processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution of fossil fuels such as coal, crude oil and natural gas, driven by an increase of 17.6% in natural gas production.
It comes at a time when the government has been pressuring states and territories to lift bans on fracking for new unconventional gas development and just weeks after the Northern Territory announced it would end its ban on fracking.
Publication of the data also comes after Australia recorded its hottest and driest April in 21 years.
Australia’s emissions levels are now higher than they were in 2012 and have climbed 3.6% since the carbon price was repealed in 2014.
Between 2007 and 2013, under the previous federal government, carbon pollution declined by more than 11%.
The Australian Conservation Foundation said on Monday it was embarrassing that a developed country such as Australia was recording rising climate pollution, and the Turnbull government was failing on climate policy.
“This data confirms pollution is rising from transport, industry and gas production because there is no plan from Canberra to replace burning polluting coal, oil and gas with clean energy,” the ACF’s Gavan McFadzean said.
“The federal budget contained no new money to incentivise industry and landowners to clean-up their act. The Climate Change Authority will be worse off to the tune of $550,000. Yet there is money for miners: the diesel fuel rebate remains in place.”
The organisation also questioned why the government was years behind markets such as the United States and Canada in the introduction of tougher pollution standards for vehicles.
Labor’s climate change and energy spokesman, Mark Butler, said seasonally adjusted data showed emissions jumped by 0.83% in just the last quarter alone.
“Yet, just last week, Malcolm Turnbull’s government delivered a budget which has no policy to drive down pollution and combat climate change,” he said.
“Acting on climate change is not a priority – it is not even on the agenda – for this out-of-touch government.”
Blair Palese, 350.org Australia’s CEO, said “with numbers like these, Australia may as well not be signed up to Paris to act on climate because we’re making no progress at all.”
“We can blame the federal government’s inability to stand up to fossil fuel interests and its failure to give any meaningful support to renewable energy for Australia’s increasing emissions.”
Comment has been sought from the minister for environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea).
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May 14, 2018 07:16
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- Ghost Leviathan
- Mar 2, 2017
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Exploration is ill-advised.
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I can't even remember who ran against Turnbull in the last election. Was it actually Shorten?
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May 14, 2018 10:38
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- Doctor Spaceman
- Jul 6, 2010
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"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
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I can't even remember who ran against Turnbull in the last election. Was it actually Shorten?
Abbott.
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May 14, 2018 10:46
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- norp
- Jan 20, 2004
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TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP
let's invade New Zealand, they have oil
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He's such a great opposition leader
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May 14, 2018 10:56
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- bandaid.friend
- Apr 25, 2017
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 My first car was a stick
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-14/bylong-mine-in-upper-hunter-to-proceed-despite-threat-to-water/9748574
quote:A large foreign-owned mine planned for prime agricultural land in the NSW Hunter Valley could cause the Bylong River and local creeks to "dry up", according to an assessment by the NSW Water Office obtained under freedom of information laws.
A series of stark warnings from government water experts, including that the mine would salinate the aquifer beyond limits of current policy for at least a century, appear to have either not been communicated to the Department of Planning and Environment, or ignored by it, because the project has been recommended to proceed.
The documents were requested under NSW FOI laws by a company owned by the family of disgraced former Labor power-broker Eddie Obeid, but made their way to anti-coal group Lock The Gate.
The company, Locaway Pty Ltd, owns a farm in the Bylong Valley, which has the largest water entitlement in the area.
That water entitlement was itself also the subject of investigations by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), after it heard Eddie Obeid senior, then a member of the NSW Upper House, had called bureaucrats in relation to their allocation of water.
The company said it sought the documents in order to protect those water entitlements.
Local residents and Lock The Gate said regardless of their origin, the documents showed the Department of Planning should reject the mining application.
"We would like to see it not to go ahead. It's just crazy really," Warwick Pearse, a local farmer who is part of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, said.
South Korean company Kepco is planning to build a series of open-cut and underground mines, to produce up to 6.5 million tonnes of coal each year for export to Korea for electricity generation.
The company claimed the project would directly employ an average of about 290 people over the life of the mine.
In order to get the licences for the amount of water needed to run the mine, Kepco had to buy up thousands of hectares of land.
Among its purchases were historic homes, thoroughbred studs, strategic farmland and the local school.
Locals said those purchases left the community as a shadow of its former self, with many residents leaving the area.
They also quelled any opposition to the mine, with the purchases reportedly including gag-clauses.
The NSW Office of Water was previously in the Department of Primary Industry, but was moved to the Department of Industry following an inquiry triggered by ABC Four Corners program on allegations of water theft in the Murray Darling river system.
The flow of information between the NSW Water Office and the Department of Planning and the attention the department paid to the expert advice is what is being questioned.
Documents from the NSW Office of Water suggest if Kepco uses all the water it is licensed to, the river could "dry up".
But in recommending the mine be approved, the Department of Planning said Kepco's water modelling was peer-reviewed by experts, including the NSW Water Office.
A spokesman for Kepco told the ABC the Department of Planning had "confirmed the veracity of the technical work" the company had provided and that the creeks and streams within the project's catchment "currently regularly experience zero flow".
The Department of Planning concluded the project was "unlikely to significantly affect groundwater and surface water resources, water users or the environment".
But that conclusion was in stark contrast to advice the NSW Water Office provided to the Department of Planning, revealed in the documents.
Emails between NSW Water Office staff noted all modelled scenarios "would potentially result in significant sections of the Bylong River ceasing to flow" and identified the drying-up of the river and surrounding creeks as "the main risk to the environment".
The Department of Industry said it passed on all concerns to the Department of Planning and made them public in its submission to the mine's planning application.
Even though documents reveal the NSW Water Office had information the river and surrounding creeks could "dry up", it was not mentioned in the submission to the Department of Planning.
It also did not mention the specific salinity issues raised by Kepco.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Industry said the project was subject to a lengthy assessment process and there were "multiple stages that allow for issues raised to be addressed".
The Department of Planning said in finalising its assessment it would "consider all relevant information and advice including the most up to date advice from NSW Land and Water against applicable NSW Government policy relating to all potential impacts, including water resources".
The Department of Planning also stated "groundwater quality is not expected to be significantly affected, given the relatively modest salinities of overburden and waste materials".
However, minutes of a meeting between Kepco's consultants and the NSW Water Office revealed there could be an 11 per cent increase of salinity in the groundwater, which it noted was "greater than the Aquifer Interference Policy threshold" for 100 years after mining ceased.
Georgina Woods from Lock the Gate said the documents raised questions that needed answering.
"These documents show that the impact of the Bylong coal mine on the water on the Bylong Valley have been underestimated by the Department of Planning quite dramatically," she said.
The Obeids declined requests for an interview, but lawyers representing their company said they were seeking "to do all things legally available to protect the 865 megalitres of [water] licenses" attached to their Cherrydale Park property.
The statement said the documents showed Kepco's mine would likely not have enough water for their own operations, let alone to supply other properties with water too.
"It will not be physically possible as Kepco Bylong will pump the aquifer dry," the statement said.
"Locaway also questions whether these documents were provided to the Planning Assessment Commission when it conducted a review and public hearing in relation to the Bylong Coal Project in May 2017.
"Locaway will continue to do all things legally available to it in order to protect its property and water rights."
The Obeid's had themselves sought to develop the Mt Penny coal mine in the area, but that was scuttled following corruption findings by ICAC.
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May 14, 2018 11:55
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- drunkill
- Sep 25, 2007
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me @ ur posting
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Fallen Rib
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https://twitter.com/gemmacaf/status/995924925260025856
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May 14, 2018 14:08
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- DancingShade
- Jul 26, 2007
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by Fluffdaddy
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This isn't a country that knows compassion. Expect more of this.
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May 14, 2018 14:13
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- fiery_valkyrie
- Mar 26, 2003
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I'm proud of you, Bender. Sure, you lost. You lost bad. But the important thing is I beat up someone who hurt my feelings in high school.
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Very true
quote:
An Iranian refugee and her son have been returned to Nauru from Taiwan in a pre-dawn transfer which went against psychiatric advice that the son not be returned because his severe mental illness is caused by his detention.
Fatemah and her 17-year-old son, who Guardian Australia will refer to as Hamid, had been in Taiwan for two months after they were medically transferred from the Australian-run immigration centre.
Fatemah had been waiting 18 months for critical heart surgery but refused to be separated from Hamid, who was suicidal after more than five years on Nauru.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/14/iranian-refugee-and-son-at-risk-of-suicide-returned-to-nauru-against-medical-advice
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May 14, 2018 21:00
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- Zenithe
- Feb 25, 2013
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Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.
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How is that even legal.
I mean, all of it, but specifically deliberately and forcibly ignoring the health advice.
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May 14, 2018 21:44
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- starkebn
- May 18, 2004
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"Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"
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just add this to the pile of bad news today
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/linc-energy-liquidators-refuse-to-pay-record-environmental-fine/9754520
quote:Liquidators for a gas company slapped with Queensland's biggest corporate fine for environmental damage say they won't be paying up, because there is no legal requirement for them to do so.
Linc Energy was found guilty of five counts wilfully and unlawfully causing environmental harm to land near its site at Hopeland on Queensland's Western Downs during its experimental project between 2007 and 2013.
The District Court in Brisbane has fined the company in liquidation $4.5 million, but liquidators have brushed it off.
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May 14, 2018 22:48
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- The Before Times
- Mar 8, 2014
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Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.
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From what I remember of corporate law, liquidators basically have to pay off debts in a particular order, and I'm not sure if a fine like that counts as a 'debt', strictly speaking.
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May 14, 2018 23:06
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- Solemn Sloth
- Jul 11, 2015
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Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.
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If you want some good news Ipsos gives Malcolm a solid budget bump of minus 2 in two party preferred lol
Also can’t wait for the living soul Malcolm Iuean Roberts to rename himself Pauline lee Hanson and take over
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May 14, 2018 23:46
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- CATTASTIC
- Mar 31, 2010
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Does anyone have the original "Greg, the stop sign" handy? I have a drunken analogy to make.
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May 15, 2018 00:28
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- The Before Times
- Mar 8, 2014
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Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.
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So as re we ignoring Newspoll due to the fact that they changed ONP preference flows to heavily favour the LNP without evidence?
yep
e: I mean, I ignore newspoll anyway
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May 15, 2018 00:46
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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quote:
Court document sheds new light on alleged money laundering case involving former South Sudanese military general
Many Australians struggle to save a deposit for a home, let alone pay for a property in full.
So how did then 22-year-old Ngouth Oth Mai manage to buy a $1.5 million property in Melbourne upfront in 2014 when he had only ever earned welfare payments and lived in housing commission?
That is the question he must now answer in the County Court of Victoria, where the AFP launched civil action under the Proceeds of Crime Act (but not criminal charges).
Ngouth Oth Mai is the son of James Hoth Mai, the former chief of staff to Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLA), who was sacked in 2014.
According to The Sentry, an anti-corruption watchdog set up by actor George Clooney and activist John Prendergast, military generals in South Sudan earn up to $65,000 a year and the wealth amassed by some of them and their families is unexplained.
The Mai family was on The Sentry's list.
They discovered the luxury house in Narre Warren while investigating corruption in South Sudan for a report published in 2016, War Crimes Shouldn't Pay.
This prompted the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to start an investigation.
The ABC has seen the affidavit that outlines the AFP's case.
Red flags
According to the document, an initial deposit of $155,171 was wired from a bank account belonging to Hoid Establishments, a development company in Uganda, directly into the trust account registered to the Melbourne-based real estate agent that handled the sale in June 2014.
John Chevis, who spent 12 years working on fraud and corruption cases for the AFP and is now an adviser on money laundering for the United Nations, said the transaction should have been the first red flag.
"The real estate agents involved in the sale of the house in Australia should have conducted their own due diligence on the source of the funds, although Australia's anti-money laundering laws do not currently require it," he said.
The AFP investigator claims the balance of the million-dollar property and a luxury car was paid by money that was transferred from Africa into National Australia Bank (NAB) business accounts held by a luxury car business registered in Nguoth Oth Mai's name.
The Hoth Mai family home swimming pool. Large and surrounded by palm trees.
The NAB said in a statement that it conducts checks and due diligence on all customers.
However this case raises serious questions around its banking process.
"They should possibly have noticed that the funds travelled a circuitous route for which there is no apparent commercial reason," Mr Chevis said.
"Having identified these transactions as unusual, the banks should then have sought further information on the source of the funds and then, assuming they identified the source as illegitimate, rejected the transactions."
Where did the money come from?
That circuitous route is revealed in the AFP's affidavit.
More than $1.5 million was transferred in five instalments from companies located in Uganda and Kenya, sometimes going through banks in Dubai, into the NAB business account registered to a luxury car business — Sportscars Dealers — a company where the former general's son, Nguoth Oth Mai, was both director and majority shareholder.
The AFP stated the company did not trade any vehicles.
The police allege the unexplained payments came from companies owned by two businessmen, Humphrey Kariuki and Idro Taban, both known to the anti-corruption watchdog, The Sentry.
"Records show that firms owned by these businessmen received contracts from the SPLA [Sudan's People's Liberation Army] during Hoth Mai's tenure as chief of staff, including Belgravia Services Ltd, Dalbit Petroleum and LOID Investment," The Sentry said in a statement.
"LOID Investment was listed as the 'notifying party' for a weapons shipment and that Dalbit Petroleum had wired hundreds of thousands of dollars into the personal bank accounts of two South Sudanese generals in 2014.
"Like Hoth Mai, one of those generals also used the funds for the purchase of a home outside South Sudan."
Centrelink benefits and tax evasion
The AFP produced Australian Taxation Office records in the affidavit to show some members of Hoth Mai's family, who reside in Australia, have not declared any income since 2009.
It said Nguoth Oth Mai also did not declare the property purchased through his company's bank accounts and alleged that he evaded tax as a result.
The affidavit also explained some of the family members were on Centrelink benefits and lived in housing commission until the million-dollar property was purchased in 2014.
The court document contains an allegation that the luxury car business was set up for the sole purpose of moving money from overseas into Australia to purchase the property without alerting Centrelink.
The AFP claimed the welfare payments could have stopped if the $1.5 million was deposited into personal accounts.
The police investigator explained the money in the NAB accounts was also used to purchase an Audi vehicle for Nguoth Oth Mai's younger sister before the business was deregistered on 15 September 2016.
Bank statements show the initial deposit for the luxury car was paid by former military general James Hoth Mai, who held an account in his name with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).
Why didn't the banks and AUSTRAC question the movement of money from Africa to Australia?
Who's looking out for money laundering?
Dr Mark Zirnsak, from the Uniting Church in Australia and secretariat for the Tax Justice Network, said the case has highlighted concerns with Australia's anti-money laundering processes when it comes to politically exposed people, or PEPs.
"It does raise serious concerns about the health of Australia's anti-money laundering system when it comes to people who are politically connected," he said.
"The fact that the general's son was able to use a company to buy a property without the bank being alerted to the fact that this was likely to be money that couldn't be explained as legitimately sourced — that's a real concern.
"It does also raise another issue around the regulator, AUSTRAC, that's supposed to look after our anti-money laundering system and the fact that they do not do any public reports to reassure the community that the banks and other financial entities are doing a good enough job to combat money laundering."
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body that sets global standards for combating money laundering, recommend banks perform due diligence on personal and business accounts that belong to anyone who does or has previously held a prominent public position in any foreign government, including high-ranking member of the armed forces, and their immediate family.
AUSTRAC is not in line with FATF's standards because it does not consider a person "politically exposed" after they leave office.
That can make it easier for proceeds of corruption to be laundered into Australia's economy and is one reason FATF delivered a scathing review of Australia's anti-money laundering processes in 2015.
"The banks, through which these funds moved, should have noticed that the source, and ultimate beneficiary of the funds, was linked to a former senior ranking member of the military in a country that is known to have issues with corruption," Mr Chevis said.
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services does not currently cover banking failures with respect to money laundering and there are suggestions that maybe it should.
"Engagement in high-risk and less-than-ethical behaviour uncovered so far in the royal commission is almost certainly also present with respect money laundering," Mr Chevis said.
Mr Chevis said financial intelligence units in the various countries through which these funds moved, including AUSTRAC, should have also been alerted to the suspicious transactions.
"They perhaps should have noticed that the source and beneficiary was linked to a PEP and that the funds were being moved in a manner that is a potential red-flag for money laundering," he said.
"AUSTRAC collects data on international funds transfers and could have, if it had active surveillance in place, independently identified that these transactions related to a PEP."
AUSTRAC said in a statement that it cannot comment on current operational matters.
Solicitor Leath Nicholson, who represents James Hoth Mai, also would not comment on the case, but said in a statement that his client is a person of impeccable character and the claims made by the AFP are without merit.
The case is scheduled to return to court in July.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-14/court-document-shed-new-light-on-alleged-money-laundering-case/9738920
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May 15, 2018 00:59
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- Robodog
- Oct 22, 2004
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...how does that work?
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Greg sheridan is a fuckwit
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May 15, 2018 01:04
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- Solemn Sloth
- Jul 11, 2015
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Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.
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Didn’t newspoll literally just have a one time adjustment to the coalition as a result of the new methodology and its sat unmoving ever since, not much of a recovery
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May 15, 2018 01:14
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- drunkill
- Sep 25, 2007
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me @ ur posting
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Fallen Rib
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Police state now.
New ID laws at airports.
All hail potato king.
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May 15, 2018 01:55
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- Brown Paper Bag
- Nov 3, 2012
-
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The Ludlam dream is over, the Greens nominated some ex-Cop to run in Fremantle
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May 15, 2018 02:53
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- bell jar
- Feb 25, 2009
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The Ludlam dream is over, the Greens nominated some ex-Cop to run in Fremantle
hmmm im back to not voting for the greens
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May 15, 2018 02:57
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
-
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The Ludlam dream is over, the Greens nominated some ex-Cop to run in Fremantle
He retired to spend more time with his bong.
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May 15, 2018 03:27
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- fiery_valkyrie
- Mar 26, 2003
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I'm proud of you, Bender. Sure, you lost. You lost bad. But the important thing is I beat up someone who hurt my feelings in high school.
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From the mouth of the potato himself
quote:
Under current laws, police can only ask for proof of identity if they suspect a person has or will commit a serious offence.
"There's certain conditions that need to be met at the moment before police can ask for that identification, which is an absurdity, and it is an issue the police have raised with us," Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton argued.
Yes, I too think it absurd that police should be required to have a reason to ask you for your ID.
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May 15, 2018 03:27
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- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
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#
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May 29, 2024 09:42
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- MysticalMachineGun
- Apr 5, 2005
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Yes, I too think it absurd that police should be required to have a reason to do anything
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May 15, 2018 03:33
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May 14, 2018 06:54
oh well, profits!
